Giving Thanks

I know it's early, but Thanksgiving doesn't exist here in China so I think it's okay to start celebrating now. Just a quick update on what we've been up to-

We recently started taking the spinning class at our gym - which quickly became the highlight of our days. They offer it every night at 7pm and unless we're busy going to the Italian Embassy (we did that last Wednesday) we're in that dark basement on a sweaty bike rocking out to some awesome bumping music. We've quickly becoming obsessed with the feeling we get from spinning our butts off for 45 minutes as hard as we can. Although the instructors speak Chinese, it's pretty easy to follow along and just go with the beat. We started a tally and are hoping to reach our goal of 20 classes by the time we get home.

Which, by the way, is in 4 weeks! We're very excited and already starting to plan our 3 weeks in America before coming back here until June. We're already very aware of how much we're going to miss our students, friends and Chinese life so we're extra thankful that "5-months-ago us" decided to stay the whole year rather than just 6 months. 

Since the temperature has dropped so quickly, we have been having a hard time walking to school in such cold weather each morning. The walk is under 15 minutes but in the cold it feels much longer. I quickly grew obsessed with the idea of getting a bike (we've discussed it since day one but never really did anything about it). The traffic on the way to school is a little crazy, so we were nervous to get bikes and stuck with the safer route of walking. However, since we were looking for a way to get to school that much quicker, it became a reality that we should maybe venture out on two wheels. But where to get a bike in our suburb-like district Shijingshan? We looked at the stores, but they were a little too expensive so we decided to reach out to parents at our school and ask where we could find a used bike in our area. Within an hour, each of us got a response from a more-than-willing parent to give/lend us a free bike. We were shocked! And thrilled to say the least. I got mine yesterday and we rode it around (tried to fit both of us on it which was a failure) during our break time. We felt like children giggling and falling off our new bike. Monday Charlotte will get hers and then we will have our first experience riding back and forth from school. Wish us luck! We're very thankful for our new bikes.

Last night, after our spin class we were discussing how grateful we are to be here. And to be here with each other. It's been a magical adventure and somehow our personalities fit perfectly together and we haven't gotten sick of each other. We've even discussed what we're going to do when we're both back in Needham but not in the same room at all times.. Maybe we'll bike to each other's houses! I'm thankful for you, Lotty. 

I'm also thankful for the fruit tea that we're drinking at this dimly lit coffee shop we're in. Both of us are writing and reflecting today.

THANKS for reading, happy Thanksgiving to all! We'll be over here eating a box of mac & cheese and drinking our last bottle of Italian wine that Beca brought us. Yum.

Love always,
Jacky

Making Dumplings

A few weeks ago we had one of our Chinese co-teachers, Ciel, and her boyfriend (whose English name alternates between Stone and Codi (y?)), over to cook. We spent over four hours learning how to make and then making pumpkin dumplings, egg and chive dumplings, and a few other Chinese dishes (including sugary sweet yam "fries"...amazing). It took us a while to get the hang of the art of jiaozi dumpling making...but after about 30 tries resulting in some messy/ugly dumplings (okay I'm exaggerating...maybe 10) we finally started getting some positive feedback from Ciel and Stone/Codi. After four hours we had made almost 100 dumplings completely from scratch (aren't you impressed, Moms?)! After Stone/Codi quickly boiled the dumplings we were ready to enjoy the result of all our hard work. It was well worth it! It was arguably the best meal we've had since we've been here. While we ate we shared some very interesting conversation with our guests. They were very honest and open about the pressure young people in China feel to get married and start a family young. They spoke of the expectation to live with your parents throughout your whole life, and the expectation to be completely committed to your family. We're hoping to have them over again before we come back to the states in 5 weeks(!) so that we can be able to make them for you when we come visit!

The Greatest Wall of Them All

Better late than never... We finally made it to the Great Wall! A good friend of ours who we work with came with us since she had never been there either. We had a great sunny day which ended up being much warmer than expected. We were smart enough to layer up for the morning and quickly started peeling those layers as we continued the steep climb toward the sun...

Enjoy the pictures!

Before the hike

With our friend Yenzi

Check out the fall foliage! Hard to come by here in China..

On top of the world!

Almost there...we were so tired!

Paparazzi

This sign says, "You're not a real person until you climbed up the Great Wall." Haha!

November Already?!

Just a quick update on what's going on over here... One of my very best friends is coming to Beijing tomorrow for a super quick but jam-packed visit! I am very excited so show her around and introduce her to our friends and students. She arrives on Sunday afternoon and leaves Friday afternoon- like I said, super quick! 

We celebrated Halloween this past week at our school by doing many crafts and singing songs with the kids. We put a lot of effort into making it as similar as possible to an American Halloween as we could! Aside from the lack of American candy, we felt it was successful. Post coming soon!

We can't believe it's already November... Beca's visit followed by Charlotte's 24th birthday on the 11th and then we only have about a month left until we coming home for our 3 week visit. Time is flying!!

Oh! And we added a new feature to our blog - if you want to get an email when we post (unless you've already made it your homepage) add your email address on the right. 

Stay tuned!

Love,
Jacky